Pakistan has deported a British man who was held for more than a year and tortured on suspicion of links with al-Qaeda, a human rights group said yesterday.

Rangzieb Ahmed was arrested in August 2006 in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province but never charged, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said. Mr Ahmed said that he was interrogated several times by US agents and interviewed by British security services. He denied any wrongdoing or involvement with al-Qaeda.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered his release this week. “The fact is that during one year of detention, the Pakistanis, the British and the US have been unable to unearth a shred of evidence against this person,” Human Rights Watch said.

Mr Ahmed was involved with groups fighting Indian security forces in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir and spent time in jail in India, the rights group said. British authorities secured his release from India and he had returned to Britain before travelling to Pakistan. (AFP)

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